A conversation with running legend Dave McGillivray - Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Motivational Speaker, Author, and Athlete

In the next episode of the Tech in 26.2 Podcast on Traxamo, I sit down with running legend Dave McGillivray - An entrepreneur (Founder & President of DMSE Sports), philanthropist (Founder of Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation), motivational speaker (~1600 appearances from Ted Talks to corporate & local events), author (written 4 books), and athlete (ran more than 160,000 miles - 167 marathons, including 51 consecutive Boston marathons, 80-day trek across the United States, running the 3,452 miles from Medford, Ore., to Medford, Mass. in the summer of 1978 to benefit the Jimmy Fund, 9 Ironman Triathlon World Championships to name a few). He is also the race director of iconic Boston Marathon since 1988. Our discussion focuses on Dave’s approach to adopting technology in races and some of the challenges he believes technology can help solving. Wish Dave all the best for his 10th Ironman Triathlon World Championship in couple of weeks. Enjoy the episode! Here are the highlights from our conversation:

⛳  After running 160000 miles in his legendary career what still drives him?

⛳  Dave’s take on scaling races

⛳  How a trip to NYC Marathon expo in 1995 changed the course of timing races forever

⛳ Covid’s impact on running industry

⛳ Can technology solve for uncertainty posed by climate changes

Podcast Outline

0:05 Episode Summary

0:53 Introduction

3:05 What drives Dave?

5:23 being the race director for Boston Marathon for 37 years

7:28 Dave’s take on scaling a race - Visualizing the event before it happens

8:34 Adopting chip based timing in Boston Marathon in 1996 - there gotta be a way to time and chip a race

11:47 Incremental improvement in race timing industry

14:35 How Dave approach technology to elevate race day experience - managing space and time

19:49 Under deliver or over deliver of promises from technology

24:16 Covid’s impact on running industry

27:39 Challenges on top of Dave’s mind that technology can potentially solve

• turning away people when the races are full - I wish I could accommodate everybody that wants to participate
• global warming and dealing with unpredictable weathers during races

34:03 Table top exercises for planning for weather forecasts

38:35 Maintaining integrity of sport in running events

References

• Dave McGillivray personal website - https://davemcgillivray.com/
• DMSI Sports - https://www.dmsesports.com/
• Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation - https://www.davemcgillivrayfoundation.org/
• Boston Marathon - https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon
• Fallmouth Road Race - https://falmouthroadrace.com/
• TD Beach to Beacon 10K - https://www.beach2beacon.org/
• MyLaps Championchip - https://www.mylaps.com/championchip-celebrates-25th-anniversary/

Episode info:

• Youtube - https://youtu.be/BWTY7Jgho8Q
• Apple Podcast link - https://apple.co/3XQjA4G
• Spotify podcast link - https://bit.ly/3XLA26b

Transcript and Show notes:

• https://www.traxamo.com/tech-in-26-2-dave-mcgillivray

Enjoy the episode!